Japan Internet mall Rakuten to issue, split shares

Rakuten said it will raise about $240 million through an issue of new shares next month and conduct a 10-for-one share split.

Japan's biggest online shopping mall operator, Rakuten Inc, said on Friday it will raise about 26.33 billion yen ($240 million) through an issue of new shares next month and conduct a 10-for-one share split.

It also said its top shareholder and president, Hiroshi Mikitani, will sell 6,000 existing shares in market in order to help raise the liquidity of the shares.

The Tokyo-based company, which runs online shopping mall 'Rakuten Ichiba', said funds from the issue of 40,000 shares -- 3.5 per cent of its total outstanding shares -- would be used to buy consumer loan firm Aozora Card Co Ltd, to pay debts and to invest in affiliates.

The equity finance comes less than a year after Rakuten raised 46 billion yen from an issue of new shares.

Rakuten, which has been aggressively expanding via acquisitions, originally planned to use the funds from the first equity financing to pay back debt and for working capital, but aggressive investments since then have created a fresh need to raise funds.